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Hi!
iMac with 10.14 Mojave
Alfred 3.7
Searching for .numbers file in local folder which is synced with icloud (nubmers folder).
Sometimes the file shows up and sometimes it does not. It happens in Spotlight as well.
Tried to index again but did not help. And later finding out my father has the same issue.
This file is a shared one through icloud, not sure if that might be part of the issue?
Thank you!

I've asked this in the Apple Forums with no response, so I thought I'd ask here in case someone could shed some light on it.
The problem actually started with newer apps being installed not coming up in Alfred search results. So, I went into Preferences and cleared the Application Cache, followed by Rebuild MacOS Metadata. This kicked off Spotlight indexing again, but when it finished I could no longer see any results for local applications, folders or files. All I get back are results from the Workflows and Features.
I then checked the same in Spotlight, and got the same issue (no apps, etc being found, only bookmark links, Siri suggestions, etc).
I've been racking my brain to find out why this occurred, and am totally lost now, after trying everything I can to get the blasted thing to work.
I have tried the following so far:
Added/removed the hard drive from the Privacy settings in Spotlight System Preferences.
Added/removed *just* the applications folder from the same to see if a specific folder might work (everything here is actually ticked normally).
Removing all the items and re-adding from the 'Search Results' tab in Spotlight System Preferences.
Stopped the mdutil service and deleted the /.Spotlight-V100 folder.
As above and booted into Safe Mode and back to normal mode.
As above followed by CMD-OPTION-P-R to reset the PRAM.
sudo mdutil -i off sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist (had to turn off system integrity protection to get it to allow this). sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist sudo mdutil -i on
Somebody also suggested deleting /.metadata_never_index but this folder doesn't exist on my drive.
Run Onyx to clean things up.
And numerous other 'fixes' I've found scouring the internet (I can no longer remember, I've tried so many now!)
In each case, the Spotlight index to starts to rebuild, but never seems to return the apps, etc. It *does* appear to be indexing the main drive though, as sudo mdutil -sa reports, as shown in bold below:
/:
Indexing enabled.
/Volumes/DocBrown:
Indexing and searching disabled.
/Volumes/DocBrown/Backups.backupdb:
Indexing enabled.
/Volumes/Marvin:
Indexing and searching disabled.
/Volumes/Moriarty:
Indexing and searching disabled.
/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Colossus/2017-11- 29-094813/MacOS:
Index is read-only.
/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Colossus/2017-11- 29-221804/MacOS:
Error: unknown indexing state.
/private/var/vm:
Indexing and searching disabled.
Totally confused now, as I've never come across this before. Usually, a simple Spotlight rebuild does the trick. So any help would be most appreciated!
This is on MacOS High Sierra 10.13.1. FYI, I have 330GB of space left on my SSD, so it's not a space issue.

When I search for something in Alfred that Spotlight cannot immediately find, and then select Alfred's "Search spotlight..." option, I end up in a continuous loop that continues until I open a new Alfred dialogue.
Please see movie: https://youtu.be/j_qOdBMzbrM.
How can I fix this?

Happy new year.
I have a problem creating a filter
I want to create a set of file filters that make it easy for me to find files created today, changed today, changed yesterday. Initially I tried to create spotlight saved search. (this used to work in older version of Mac OS)
The problem with using spotlight search is I use microsoft outlook to read mail. It creates a ton of file in "~/Documents/Microsoft\ User\ Data/“ Spotlight search does not provide a way for you to prune results under a directory. You can go to setting spotlight private and add this directory however that prevents spotlight from indexing these files. Outlook is not longer able to search your email. I called apple support and they confirmed my analysis. Very sad.
I am hoping to do some that is the sort of like the command bellow using Alfred
$ find ~ -daystart -ctime 0 –print | grep –v Microsoft
Unfortunately I could not find an attribute for working with paths. You get the folder name but no path info
$ mdls .
_kMDItemOwnerUserID = 504
kMDItemContentCreationDate = 2017-10-27 22:32:32 +0000
kMDItemContentCreationDate_Ranking = 2017-10-27 00:00:00 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2017-10-27 22:32:32 +0000
kMDItemContentType = “public.folder"
kMDItemDisplayName = "MusicTrainerCommonFramework"
Kind Regards
Andy

Hi,
With the new Mac OS High Sierra, spotlight has drastically improved.
The search function on spotlight is simply better than Alfred's. I was always a big proponent of Alfred to my business partner and now he's rubbing it in my face.
What I like about spotlight is the file previews on the side but more importantly it just finds more stuff. It will find files based on tags, show you website suggestions, apple music and whole bunch of other things.
Can one configure Alfred to do the same both in terms of the file previews and to make the search more extensive?

On Sierra I was able to set Command+Space as the shortcut for both Spotlight and Alfred and liked the way I could quickly cycle through them as demonstrated in my video
Command Space for both Alfred and Spotlight
I can not seem to do this on High Sierra though, as setting the shortcut is possible but when using the shortcut I only get Spotlight.
Is there a workaround for this?

Hey,
I have a problem, where Alfred loses the ability to search in files. I think I've tried to "rebuild macOS Metadata" six or seven times now, and every time the results is the same: After the reindex has been done, Alfred is able to search for the contents of any document just fine. But within an hour or two, the results gradually disappears until I'm left with a pretty crippled file search.
E.g. if I search for a term it will show still fewer file results. The order of the files disappearing is always the same.
There are no problems whatsoever with searching for the same terms in Spotlight.
I search the contents of my pdfs quite often, so it's a vital feature for me.

Hi all,
I have been using the free version of Alfred for quite a while and I think that it works wonderfully well - at the basic level, better than Apple's Spotlight.
What's keeping me from purchasing the Power Pack are a few key features I use a lot in Spotlight that seem to be absent from Alfred.
I'm opening this topic to find out whether there's a way to implement those feature in Alfred, with the Power Pack or without.
1. Typing a number followed by a currency abbreviation yields a list of equivalent amounts in a handful of other currencies.
2. Typing a mathematical expression (e.g. 2+2) yields the answer (=4), without having to open the calculator.
3. Simply typing in a word, without the "define" prefix displays a dictionary definition (if that word exists, that is), without having to open the Dictionary app.
4. System Preferences integration and indexing in Spotlight is much deeper and much more intelligent. For example, simply typing "hot corners" shows the shortcut to the "Desktop & Screensaver" section in the System Preferences.
5. Moreover, is there a way to configure that opening a new folder will always be in the current tab, unless I click on the folder with some key combination, and it opens in a new tab?
Thank you!

So, I have been facing a weird bug lately. Alfred is randomly unable to search for and launch apps. However, once I search for that app on Spotlight (don't have to run it) and then try searching for it on Alfred, that app is accessible now. It will stay accessible for a few days until it will again randomly stop showing up on Alfred, unless I search for it again on Spotlight.
Notable to mention, one app Alfred just can't search for is Spotify, even though I've searched and launched it using spotlight multiple times.
I have tried completely deleting Alfred (including preference files) and reinstalling it, but to no avail. The same problem persists. I am just short of reinstalling the whole macOS itself, which I am not very keen to.
Has anyone else faced this issue? If so, then how did you solve it?

Hello everyone,
currently I'm bringing my Mac to work and will continue as its a huge pain in the ass to work with windows(idk how everyone can overall). Like productivity especially with Alfred and Keyboard Maestro(which i bought and use heavily cause of you guys) goes beyond anything else. Well i use parallels in coherence mode but that's it and only for office tools. Anyway to the topic.
At work we have a Server with a bunch of folders which have strict permissions. I got access there and wanted to index the Folder right away. However i failed miserably. Like i tried things like this here: https://jonathansblog.co.uk/how-to-enable-spotlight-indexing-on-a-network-drive and this here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/24401/spotlight-reports-indexing-and-searching-disabled-in-lion
Nothing of this seems to work as i don't have access to everything. I couldn't even make a File Filter as that relies on Spotlight. My current "workaround" is to use Launchbar aside of Alfred, because it can index on its own. Is there any way to force spotlight to index a special folder on a server? Or is there a way to feed Alfred with an index or let it make its own :/
Another workaround that i use in combo with Launchbar is, that i use a "List Filter" with all the main paths that then let me open the paths in the file view of Alfred. But yeah i can't filter the way i would like, as that doesn't provide any subfolder search uff.
As I'm typing however I see that snippets still have expanding issues :/ as a "don't" becomes a " don't".
Well I hope that someone knows a workaround/fix or idk. Launchbar is a way for the moment but I'm only on the test Version asking me to buy it every view actions lol. Buying it just for this meh....<.< >.> Alfred is faster tho and not that heavy resources wise.
Cheers everyone,
FroZen

Good day,
OK, I am trying to figure out why Alfred will not find a phrase in a pdf that Spotlight finds successfully. So far, I have done the following:
Confirmed that Spotlight can do the search successfully.
Using the "in" keyword in Alfred, verified that Alfred cannot do the search.
I've confirmed my Spotlight prefs are searching pdfs.
I've used the "rebuild Mac OS X metadata" from the Alfred control panel.
I've waited for the mdimport tasks to complete.
I've reset the Alfred search cache.
I've entered various terminal commands to rebuild the indices as well.
I've pulled out some of my hair and wasted hours of my life looking for additional solutions.
I've begun to think about sacrificing a spotless goat and sprinkling it's blood on my keyboard (OK, no I haven't..at least, not recently,)
I've worked on this issue on and off for about three months. I'm using Alfred 2.3 (264) without PowerPack, on Mavericks 10.9.3. At this point, I'm ready to seek professional help (both tech support and psychological). Any suggestions/tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated.
These links go to screenshots of:
The Spotlight search results
The Alfred search results
The Alfred search preferences
The Alfred results preferences
So, what am I missing??
Thanks for any help/counseling you can provide.
-->John

In spotlight i can type "schedule" and open Energy Saver.prefPane with schedule button
In other words native spotlight can be used as preferences search too.
Alfred misses this so important feature.
POI keywords located in the xml files in <key> tags:
/System/Library/PreferencePanes/*.prefPane/Contents/Resources/vi.lproj/*.searchTerms
.dict > .key
exepts
<key>Options</key>
and
<key>PortableOptions</key>

Hey,
I would love to share my own Alfred Theme called "macOS Dark Theme". It's lightly inspired in spotlight and also have beautiful purple alfred-like details on selector. I hope you have a great time using it!
You can download it here

Hello. I'm using Sierra DP3, and Alfred 3.0.3. I have no idea why this started, because for the past few weeks on sierra everything was fine. It started yesterday, when my usual search terms I use to launch apps (tl for Textual, sb for Sublime Text) weren't returning anything. So, I reloaded the cache --- nothing. Reindexed spotlight --- nothing. I've run
sudo mdfind -E -i on /
I've deleted
/Spotlight-V100/*
I've painstakingly let spotlight reindex over and over. Here's the thing: if I let spotlight finish reindexing --- all queries don't show the little indexing progress bar when searching with spotlight, I can find things just fine through spotlight. However, the moment I try to search something through Alfred, anything at all, spotlight goes back to indexing on all queries. If I let it finish, the cycle repeats. So it seems as if Alfred is doing something funky to the spotlight index? I have no clue. Productivity is at an all-time-low without Alfred, so some help would be nice (:
EDIT: I'll maybe make a gif once spotlight finishes indexing. Also, if I use Alfred to search for anything while spotlight is in the middle of indexing, then it looks like I get thrown back to square 1, and have to start reindexing all over again. It's agonising, really.
EDIT 2: I just created a new user account to try this (seems to be a suggested debugging step around here), and the same problem happens --- didn't even transfer any alfred settings over.
EDIT 3: GIF: (http://i.imgur.com/BQAEhUk.gifv)
Thanks.

Team,
Couldn't find a similar topic so here's my question:
When seaching for a file (just typing part of the name or using 'find' + part of the name Alfred doesn't show the files. Example.
FILE NAME: 2015-Aug-CreateHeader-01.xls
SPOTLIGHT: type "createhea" -- found
ALFRED: type "createhea" -- no result
ALFRED: type "2015-Aug-Cre" -- found
ALFRED: type "*createhea" -- found
Is this works as designed? Configurable feature? PBKAC? (problem between keyboard and chair)

Hello Everyone,
I have owned Alfred and the PowerPak for several years but have not been able to "Get It"
I have started to look at it again and have come across an issue that probably stalled me in the very beginning.
Sorry if the question is very basic. I have tried to find the solution without any luck.
When I do a search in spotlight for an item such as images of my daughter I get a lot of results. I see, folders, emails, images, etc... Pretty much anything that has the name attached in someway to that file.
When I search with Alfred using Open, Find or '... all I get are 2 psd files. There are hundreds if not thousands of files starting or including her name.
What am I missing?
Thanks for the advice
Troy

HI,
I'm a huge fan of Alfred, and I use it every day for many things. In my setup, there are always a number of directories I like to exclude from Alfred's result list (such as any node_modules/ or bin/ directories). Currently, I must always manually add them to the Privacy tab in Spotlight preferences, though this is far from ideal (because I have two Macs, I must perform this chore on them both).
I llooked through the Alfred docs in search of a better solution (ideally, something I could automate) and discovered the alfred:ignore Spotlight comment, which was exactly what I needed (or so I thought). However, after applying alfred:ignore (programatically, of course) to all directories I desire to exclude, I noticed something rather peculiar and counterintuitive. It seems that alfred:ignore only ignores the directories themselves (the ones to which you add alfred:ignore), but not any their subdirectories. As a result, though I no longer see the ignored root directories in Alfred, all of their subdirectories still show in the results.
Things I've tried: reloading Alfred's cache via the reload keyword, and clearing Alfred's application cache under Alfred Preferences > Advanced, but neither of those options made Alfred ignore the subdirectories of the directories I've ignored.
Questions: is this a bug or is this the expected behavior? And if the latter is true, then how could I tell Alfred to recursively ignore directories in a way that can be automated?
I hope that all makes sense. Please let me know if I need to clarify anything.
Thanks in advance,
Caleb

Hi,
Bound Alfred to CMD + Space to replace OSX spotlight...works fine.
Problem: in Photoshop CMD + Space is used for Zooming in, and I'd prefer not to change that since Ive used for many years and it's ingrained in my muscle memory.
Question: Can I disable the Alfred Hotkey (CMD + Space) ONLY in Photoshop?
Thanks
Luis

Hello guys,
I recently upgraded to Yosemite and for some reason I didn't have this issue with Moutain Lion. Anyway here is the issue.
I have excluded from SpotLight (using the Confidentiality tab) my VMWare Virtual Machines, but when I use alfred to search/launch "monitor" (to launch the activity monitor)... I still get lots of entries of programs hosted inside the Virtual Machines...
http://screencast.com/t/fLwFpwoKf2Ed
Any idea why is Alfred still showing this ? Isn't Alfred using Spotlight ?
Cheers,

I would like to create a workflow that is close to the 'Filter from keyword and reveal', with a limited search scope but instead of display the search results in the Alfred window, I'd like it to reveal all search results in Finder (like spotlight, but restricted to a specific folder).
Any advice is much appreciated.
bests
John

I know Alfred uses the Spotlight index to power its search results, so my question is:
How can I disable Spotlight from indexing the content of package files, particularly iPhoto or iTunes library files?
The contents of these packages/libraries are cluttering up my Alfred results like no body's business. It's basically making Alfred dysfunctional for searching files and folders. I'm getting all kinds of irrelevant results with long strings of random characters (because that's how package/library data is named).
It's really impacting my experience and I want to fix it ASAP. Thanks community for any advice you have.
Screenshots below: